


Meeting of Minds

by cher



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series, Transformers Generation One
Genre: First Contact, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26056372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cher/pseuds/cher
Summary: There is a 92.3% probability that we are looking at a starship of a type unknown to Federation databases.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33
Collections: Crossworks 2020





	Meeting of Minds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).



"Captain, I'm reading a debris field, one parsec to starboard. Sensors indicate a large metallic mass of unknown composition."

"Asteroid?"

"Unlikely, Captain. The largest object's angular shape is uncommon in asteroids. Further, there is an anomalous energy signature. "

Jim sat forward in the command chair. "Put it on screen, direct all sensors toward the object."

"Our sensors are operating at the furthest range possible, and visual detail is lacking, Captain. There is, however, a 92.3% probability that we are looking at a starship of a type unknown to Federation databases."

Jim sat back again, settling into his customary posture of one leg crossed over the other. He looked over at Spock, and Spock felt Jim's delight at the prospect of a discovery on what was a routine mapping mission. "Mr Spock, please begin an analysis of the anomalous signature against known energy patterns. Mr Sulu, get us close enough to get a good look. Lt. Uhura, please scan all frequencies for any activity. Kirk to Commander Scott."

"Scott here, Captain."

"Scotty, we're approaching what may be an unknown starship in a debris field. Mr. Spock will send you his data, I'd like your input on what we're looking at."

"Aye, Captain! We're shipshape down here, ready for anything!"

And that, as Dr. McCoy liked to say, were the famous last words.

_

Jim, Spock, and a security team beamed aboard. The space was cavernous, the hallways wide enough to fly a shuttle down, should it become necessary. The alien starship retained enough power to keep its gravity systems functioning. Blue indicator lights provided just enough illumination to make their flashlights unnecessary.

As they stepped further into the ship, more systems came online. Spock, intent on his tricorder, announced, "Captain, life support systems have come online, and the atmosphere is now breathable."

Jim reached to unhook the helmet on his EVA suit, and was stopped by his First Officer. "Clearly the ship is initiating systems in response to our presence. However, Captain, it is curious that the gravity systems have continued to run since the ship went into hibernation, while oxygen systems did not. It is possible that there is an airborne pathogen present, and we should remain cautious."

Jim nodded. "Excellent point, Mr Spock. It is also possible that the ship has simply been abandoned."

"Or," said Spock, in tones of fascination, "perhaps the crew of this ship do not require air to breathe."

The team followed Spock's line of gaze as the corridor opened out again. The chamber was full of what Jim would like to call enormous robots, inert and damaged. The figures were unusual but the tableau was familiar: the robots lay around the room, crumpled against bulkheads and stretched across the floor, just the way any crew did when their ship sustained a large impact.

"Mechanical lifeforms, Mr Spock?"

Spock glanced rapidly between his tricorder and the inert robots. "It would appear so, Captain."

_  
  


The sudden beam of yellow light startled the team, sending all five of them back into the corridor and brandishing their phasers. The light hit the nearest robot and it came back online, groaning.

"Ugh, what hit me?" it said to the room at large. Given its size, Jim might have expected the volume of its vocalisation to be overwhelming. Its voice was instead human-standard, which was curious again. The being appeared to be mechanical but spoke in a manner similar to an organic lifeform. At least they would understand each other.

The robot sat up, holding a hand to its face. This one had a red and white body, and wasn't the largest of the forms. It looked at the forms around it and sighed. It sounded weary and perhaps exasperated, if Jim wasn't ascribing too many human emotions to an alien lifeform. If he had to guess, he'd say it had woken up to this situation many times before.

It hauled itself to its feet, the clanging of metal on metal ringing through the ship, and stretched, apparently checking itself for damage. "Well, at least I'm in one piece," it grumbled, and looked around at the fallen forms. "Could be worse. Right, Optimus, where are you?"

Jim judged that it would be better to startle one robot than several, if more were going to ... what? wake up? come back online? ... and so he gestured for his team to lower their phasers. He decoupled the suit helmet, confident now that it was safe enough. He stepped forward into the room - the bridge? - taking care to place his feet loudly enough to, hopefully, alert the robot to his presence. 

He held out his hands when the robot spun to face him. Fast, then, despite its size. "I am Captain Kirk of the Federation starship Enterprise. We discovered your ship drifting in deep space. Do you need assistance?"

The robot put a hand to its chest, somewhat theatrically. "You think you're in a dead ship and surrounded by offline bots and wow boy you are not. Teach you people to knock?"

Kirk blinked. Well. The robot wasn't aggressive or afraid of him, so that was a start. "I'm sorry to startle you. I have some of my crew here with me. Perhaps we can help with your ship or crew?"

"Well, I'll be," said the robot, looking Jim up and down and reminding Jim strongly of Bones. "Been a while since we had carbon based lifeforms around here. Must be why Teletraan 1 came back online. Thanks for that. Name's Ratchet, I'm the medic. Sure, bring your people in. Just, don't get close to anyone, the size differential and the coming online suddenly doesn't always go well for organic lifeforms in proximity."

Jim grinned. He liked this Ratchet. "Meaning you don't want any of us to get squashed. I think my CMO would like you,"

"Yeah, I got enough patients here, don't need any more. Stand back, I want to get Optimus up. He's good at organic life forms."

Ratchet picked his way around his fallen crew to the one of the largest robots with blue and red ... skin? paintwork? ... and dragged him forward. As soon as he came in range, the same yellow beam of light lanced out and enveloped the big robot.

The robot Ratchet called Optimus groaned just as Ratchet had, and sat up slowly. The lower half of his face was covered in a featureless plate, but his eyes glowed the same blue as Ratchet's. Fascinating that a mechanical species would still exist along the same basic configuration of organic humanoid life; two eyes, a mouth, pointed ... antennae? resembling ears.

"Optimus, how are you feeling?" Ratchet asked, a new note of concern in his voice.

"Ratchet, old friend. I am functional. Thank you. What is our status?"

"Eh, your guess is as good as mine. I just woke up too. Ship's still dead, everyone's offline, organic life forms are here and that's what woke Teletraan 1 up. You talk to them, I'm gonna get everyone else up. Energon's not got any more available while we were out, though."

"Fascinating, Captain," Spock murmured to Kirk. "They appear to have no fear in awakening to what must be surprising circumstances with aliens on their ship. It seems they view us as no threat."

"That is correct," the new bot said, his voice deep and resonant. Their hearing must be very good. "We Autobots are peaceful. You have our thanks for bringing our ship back online. My chronometer tells me we have been offline a very long time." He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Our homeworld is Cybertron, lost to war long ago. Our mission now is to obtain energy to fuel our crew, and fight back the forces of the Decepticons. What brings you aboard our ship?"

Jim smiled. "I am Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise. This is my First Officer Commander Spock, and my security team. We are explorers on a peaceful mission from the United Federation of Planets. We stopped to investigate your ship and render assistance if we could. What are your fuel needs?"

"Welcome to our ship, then, Captain Kirk. We are always glad to meet other peaceful explorers."

Well, thought Kirk, eyeing the black weapon lying next to Optimus, that is an awfully large gun for a peaceful explorer, but perhaps size is relative.

"My people require energon to survive. We are able to convert other forms of energy into energon if none is available."

"Well, Optimus Prime, Commander Spock will be glad to work with you or one of your crew to see if we can assist with your requirements. I would love to hear about your planet and your mission. The Federation could always use more allies. Will you come aboard the Enterprise?"

_

Several sleepless shifts later, McCoy was clearly trying to pry Jim loose from their new guests long enough to get some rest, but he'd been distracted himself. The shuttle landing bay was a popular destination lately. (At least, now that Scotty had stopped yelling about when he'd had to do to their grav systems to compensate for the suddenly wildly unbalanced weight distribution on the ship. Standard specs did not account for mass in the tonnes with the kind of mobility the Cybertronians had.)

The Cybertronians weren't just one of the most fascinating species the Enterprise has encountered, they were just plain fun. How there could be so little culture clash between species that had so little common ground was astounding.

Bumblebee - or, more correctly, a yellow repair shuttle - skidded to a stop in front of them, and unfolded to become the Bumblebee they'd first met. Jim kind of loved the noise it made when they did that. And, really, that they did that.

"How is the new form suiting you, Bumblebee?" Bones asked solicitously. The small bot had been more damaged than most of his friends, and he'd needed a new alt-form, as they called it. And now he was a shuttle, and Jim and the security team were all glad that the insignia they all had on their chests carried over, because if their scan-and-transform-and-blend-in routine wasn't the scariest thing since cloaking technology, Jim didn't know what was.

Bumblebee cocked his head and trilled a pleased-sounding noise. Jim could see Bones itching to get Ratchet alone so they could compare notes - probably loudly - about healing Bumblebee's apparently long non-functional voice box.

And Spock, who was (discreetly, of course) out of his Vulcan mind with delight with the science of it all. Especially when he learned that some of their species were telepaths, although none in this group. "Captain," he'd said, doing the sparkling eyes thing he did when anyone else would want to jump and down, "the lifespan of these beings is counted in tens of millennia, and yet they appear to process information and act with similar speed to lifeforms with exponentially shorter lifespans. To us, they are functionally immortal. They have seen the birth of stars that have died again in their own lifetimes. The knowledge they have is invaluable."

And Uhura couldn't stop talking about the translation program all of the Cybertronians ran, and what the Federation could learn from it.

So from that, Jim understood that he was supposed to secure some kind of an alliance or perhaps face a mutiny from his officers. The Cybertronians seemed to be few in number, as far as they'd been able to understand. This group, and the Decepticons they talked about, who were apparently something like robot Klingons, and a lost homeworld.

While Optimus' team worked on getting their ship up and running again, here they all were, having what amounted to an extended diplomatic event in a shuttle bay. Well, Jim had certainly done stranger things. And, he guessed, served stranger hors d'oeuvres than crushed dilithium crystals, but if so he couldn't bring them to mind right now. Regardless, everyone was having fun, even Ironhide and Huffer, which was apparently something of an anomaly if Jazz were to be believed.

Spock had all he could do to keep Wheeljack out of the lab computers, but Scotty loved working with him. Jim was really appreciating Ironhide, himself, and Optimus gave a great speech. He couldn't seem to help it.

Optimus seemed pretty set on his mission, and the Federation couldn't support what essentially seemed to be a civil war. But maybe they could help their planet get back on its feet while it sorted out something they could point to as a stable government. Maybe even eventually broker a peace treaty.

Meanwhile, there was a party in the shuttle landing bay and no one wanted to miss it.


End file.
